Another drizzly morning in New York but it couldn't get in the way. We're only a few blocks from the Soup Nazi kitchen of Seinfeld, couldn't miss walking past it this morning. We headed down Columbus Ave towards the Dakota building where I found out Yoko still lives.

Throughout Europe all of us connected fragments of history, Michelangelo in the Vatican and his home in Florence, Napoleon in France and Florence too for that matter, the breadth of roman influence etc. We didn't plan it but The Beatles have ended up being a little like that too. The kids know about Abbey Rd and through it the Beatles. Today when we got down to Strawberry Fields they could connect Lennon to the Beatles and Abbey Rd, very cool. Gab then connected Emerson's Stella McCartney dress to Paul McCartney and then to the Beatles, Emerson was chuffed :)

We kept heading uptown along Columbus to the National Museum of Natural History. Having just visited the London one I didn't know how interested the kids would be. We struggled to keep up with them! The exhibits are just as you've seen them in the movies. A full size whale is still astounding to stand near a second time in a week.

The thing NYC has over London is the Planetarium. The show is immersive and entirely engrosing. We all came out with jaws gaping and filled up with info on space, my five and eight year olds emerged debating what a brown dwarf was and talking about the Helix Nebular. I can't wait to get them to Kennedy Space Centre next week.

From the Museums we realised we were close to Tom's Restaurant, the scene for Monk's Diner in Seinfeld, we had to drive past. This really is the part of NY you'd like to live in.

We went over the Harlem hoping to get a table at a soul kitchen I'd read about. No luck, its Sunday and by this time everyone is pouring out of church and into these places. Beautiful sight to see the elderly of Harlem all dressed up to the 9s for church proudly streaming through their community afterwards. We picked up some unremarkable food at what turned out to be new gastro pub - it said it was soul food, but the food had none.

We strolled along both Malcolm X Blvd and 125st for a few hours. Went into a whole bunch of clothing shops, bought shorts and sneakers, Max got Timberlands so I could vicariously re-live my teens. We found a proper gangsta pawn shop complete with a $12k "B" hanging on a gold rope chain. We found the Apollo theatre where the still run the weekly amateur night where Michael Jackson was first discovered. We finshed off the whole Harlem experience with a coke and slider at White Castle, proper LL Cool J style.

We headed home with all our shopping, the kids and I slept for a bit before heading out for the highlight of the day. Madison Square Garden to see the NY Rangers plan the Boston Bruins. We were seated in the very last row as high as you can get. This didn't stop the kids, Max was an agressive Rangers fan, joining in every chant and repeating it 20db louder to the poor few Bruins fans around us. He kept it up the whole game, Emerson only lasted the first period before she crashed but she was just as emphatic, when she was awake :)

In the end the Rangers lost, but it hardley mattered - it was the most energised experience I've had in years. The Garden was full of pumped people tonight, like they'd come straight out of those evangelical churches this morning - a New York highlight.